N/A end of the garden, and features a cast iron African head (called “Prince Ebo” by Anne...
Transcript of N/A end of the garden, and features a cast iron African head (called “Prince Ebo” by Anne...
NPS Form 10-900 OMB No 1024-0018
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places Registration Form This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin, How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "NIA" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories fiom the instructions.
1. Name of Property Historic name: Pierce Street Historic District Other nameslsite number: Pierce Street Renaissance Historic District, VDHR # 1 18-5238 Name of related multiple property listing: n/a (Enter "NIA" if property is not part of a multiple property listing
2. Location Street & number: 1300-1400 Blocks of Pierce Street, 1300 Block (odd numbers) Fillmore Street, 1300 Block Buchanan (even numbers) City or town: Lynchburg State: Virginia County: Independent City Not For Publication: N/A Vicinity:
3. Statemederal Agency Certification
As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended,
I hereby certify that this X nomination - request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60.
In my opinion, the property X meets - does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance:
national - statewide - X local ~ x l i c a b l e National Register Criteria:
In my opinion, the property - meets - does not meet the National Register criteria.
Signature of commenting official: Date
Title : State or Federal agencylbureau or Tribal Government
Sections 1-6 page 1
NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018
Sections 1-6 page 1
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin, How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions,
architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions.
1. Name of Property
Historic name: Pierce Street Historic District
Other names/site number: Pierce Street Renaissance Historic District, VDHR # 118-5238
Name of related multiple property listing: n/a
(Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing
____________________________________________________________________________
2. Location
Street & number: 1300-1400 Blocks of Pierce Street, 1300 Block (odd numbers) Fillmore Street, 1300 Block
Buchanan (even numbers)
City or town: Lynchburg State: Virginia County: Independent City
Not For Publication: Vicinity:
____________________________________________________________________________
3. State/Federal Agency Certification
As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended,
I hereby certify that this X nomination ___ request for determination of eligibility meets the
documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the
procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60.
In my opinion, the property _X_ meets ___ does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that
this property be considered significant at the following
level(s) of significance:
___national ___statewide _X_local
Applicable National Register Criteria:
_x__A ___B __C ___D
Signature of certifying official/Title: Date
_Virginia Department of Historic Resources__________
State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government
In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria.
Signature of commenting official: Date
Title : State or Federal agency/bureau
or Tribal Government
N/A N/A
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018
Pierce Street Historic District City of Lynchburg, VA Name of Property County and State
Sections 1-6 page 2
______________________________________________________________________________
4. National Park Service Certification
I hereby certify that this property is:
entered in the National Register
determined eligible for the National Register
determined not eligible for the National Register
removed from the National Register
other (explain:) _____________________
______________________________________________________________________
Signature of the Keeper Date of Action
____________________________________________________________________________
5. Classification
Ownership of Property
(Check as many boxes as apply.)
Private:
Public – Local
Public – State
Public – Federal
Category of Property
(Check only one box.)
Building(s)
District
Site
Structure
Object
X
x
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018
Pierce Street Historic District City of Lynchburg, VA Name of Property County and State
Sections 1-6 page 3
Number of Resources within Property
(Do not include previously listed resources in the count)
Contributing Noncontributing
26 6 buildings
2 0 sites
0 0 structures
0 0 objects
28 6 Total
Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register 6
____________________________________________________________________________
6. Function or Use
Historic Functions
(Enter categories from instructions.)
DOMESTIC/single dwelling = House
COMMERCE/department store = General Store
RELIGION/religious facility = Church
Current Functions
(Enter categories from instructions.)
DOMESTIC/single dwelling = House
RELIGION/religious facility = Church
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018
Pierce Street Historic District City of Lynchburg, VA Name of Property County and State
Section 7 page 4
_____________________________________________________________________________
7. Description
Architectural Classification
(Enter categories from instructions.)
LATE VICTORIAN: Queen Anne
LATE VICTORIAN: Shingle Style
LATE VICTORIAN: Italianate
LATE 19TH
& 20TH
CENTURY REVIVALS: Colonial Revival
Materials: (enter categories from instructions.)
Principal exterior materials of the property: WOOD; BRICK; METAL; STUCCO
Narrative Description
(Describe the historic and current physical appearance and condition of the property. Describe contributing and
noncontributing resources if applicable. Begin with a summary paragraph that briefly describes the general
characteristics of the property, such as its location, type, style, method of construction, setting, size, and
significant features. Indicate whether the property has historic integrity.)
______________________________________________________________________________
Summary Paragraph
The Pierce Street Historic District includes approximately five acres of urban residential neighborhood
between Lynchburg’s College Hill and Kemper Street areas. Most buildings within the district are sited on small
lots and have shallow setbacks. Architectural styles within the neighborhood vary, but the Folk Victorian and
Craftsman styles tend to dominate the streetscape. Some of the buildings are quiet modest and display no
discernible architectural style. The district’s buildings are primarily single-family residential, although two
churches along with two combination store/dwellings also exist. Primary resources within the district were
generally constructed between 1877 and 2009, and the average date of construction is 1914. Within the historic
district, the Anne Spencer House was individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, and
the Dr. Walter Johnson House and Tennis Court was individually listed in 2002; each property has three
contributing resources.
______________________________________________________________________________
Narrative Description
The greater neighborhood is bounded on the northwest by Twelfth Street, on the southeast by the
Lynchburg Expressway (U.S. 29 Business), and on the southwest by Kemper Street. R.S. Payne Elementary
School lies approximately 600 feet to the north of the district’s center, and Dunbar Middle School (formerly
Dunbar High School) lies 1,800 feet to the northeast. The center of the Kemper Street Industrial Historic District
(118-5292) is 1,000 feet to the southwest. Kemper and Twelfth Streets are lined with light commercial and
industrial buildings.
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018
Pierce Street Historic District City of Lynchburg, VA Name of Property County and State
Section 7 page 5
Sidewalks and deciduous shade trees line most of the neighborhood’s streets. Because of their small lot
sizes, most properties contain minimal landscape features. Notable exceptions are the Anne Spencer House at
1313 Pierce Street, which has a long, narrow garden that extends the full depth of the block to Buchanan Street,
and the C.W. Seay House at 1300 Pierce Street, which boasts large trees in its front and side yards.
Notable examples of Folk Victorian dwellings include the pair of two-story gable-fronted homes at 1314
and 1316 Pierce Street (both built circa 1900), which feature turned wood porch posts and lozenge-shaped wood
shingles in their gable ends. Several homes exhibit influences of the Craftsman style, including the American
Foursquare plan house at 1306 Pierce (built in 1924), which is marked by its stuccoed exterior and deep
overhanging eaves (some might classify this house as a Prairie Box). The neighborhood is home to three other
American Foursquare houses, including the fully-shingled dwelling at 1311 Pierce Street and the half-shingled
Walter Johnson House at 1422 Pierce (built in 1919 and 1911, respectively). The diminutive shingle-covered
home at 1309 Fillmore Street (circa 1933) features a second (garret) level (cantilevered over the front porch) with
a small balcony facing the street. Cedar shingles as an exterior siding material are not uncommon in the
neighborhood, and can be found on a number of residences along with the church at 1309 Pierce Street.
Built circa 1900, the Anne Spencer House at 1313 Pierce Street is the district’s best, but not only,
example of a variant of Queen Anne architecture. While its façade is virtually identical to the neighboring
Warwick Spencer, Jr. house at 1317 Pierce (built in 1904), the Anne Spencer house has been bestowed with
numerous architectural refinements and details including glazed arch-topped doorways and a wrap-around porch
with pergola.
The Colonial Revival style is best-represented by the circa 1950 Seay House at 1300 Pierce Street (one of
only three brick buildings in the district), which features a pair of gabled dormers, an entry covered by a small
portico with an arched pediment, and a water table with basket-weave brick. Other homes exhibit select Colonial
Revival details, including the American Foursquare house at 1311 Pierce Street (built in 1919), which has a one-
story, hipped-roof front porch with a modillioned cornice and Tuscan columns on brick piers.
Most resources in the district are devoid of outbuildings or notable site features with the exception of the
Walter Johnson and Anne Spencer houses on Pierce Street. To the rear of the Walter Johnson House at 1422
Pierce Street is a small, weatherboard-sided shed with a gable roof that it set on a high concrete foundation at the
lot’s back corner with Fifteenth Street. In the side yard, two short metal posts (which supported the net) serve as
the only visible reminders of Dr. Johnson’s clay tennis court (currently overgrown with grass) that was the
training ground for many African American athletes To the rear of the Anne Spencer House at 1313 Pierce Street
is a delightful garden space featuring an extensive pergola. A small concrete fishpond is located in the
southwestern end of the garden, and features a cast iron African head (called “Prince Ebo” by Anne Spencer),
which was a gift from W.E.B. DuBois. The jewel of the garden is Spencer’s small cottage called “Edankraal”
where Anne conducted much of her writing. The name Edankraal is derived from the first two letters of Anne and
her husband Edward’s names, combined with kraal (an Afrikaans word for a southern African village or
community). The shingled cottage has a small shed porch and an external greenstone chimney and
fireplace/barbeque.
Inventory of Resources
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018
Pierce Street Historic District City of Lynchburg, VA Name of Property County and State
Section 7 page 6
The following is a list of resources located within the boundaries of the Pierce Street Historic District. The
resources are listed alphabetically by roadway and numerically by street address. Virginia Department of
Historic Resources identification numbers are also listed. All resources, both primary and secondary, have been
evaluated as either contributing or non-contributing based upon the areas of significance identified under Criteria
A for African American History; and based upon the period of significance spanning the period 1862 to 1964.
All non-contributing resources have been so noted for being built later than 1964 or for having been significantly
altered so that they no longer reflect their historic appearance or character. Construction dates were derived from
a combination of sources, including Sanborn Insurance maps, historic City of Lynchburg land tax records, and
current City of Lynchburg property assessment records.
Buchanan Street
1306 Buchanan Street 118-5238-0019 Other DHR Id#:
Primary Resource: Single Dwelling (Building), Stories 1, Style: No Discernible Style, 1900 Contributing Total: 1
This diminutive dwelling has a side gable roof of standing seam metal, is clad in vinyl siding, and rests on a brick foundation. A small shed-roofed porch is attached to the facade, and a long shed-roofed addition is in the rear.
1308 Buchanan Street 118-5238-0020 Other DHR Id#:
Primary Resource: Single Dwelling (Building), Stories 2, Style: No Discernible Style, 1900 Contributing Total: 1
This two-story house presents its gable end to Buchanan Street, and has a one-story shed- roofed porch that has been partially enclosed. Visible portions of the foundation consist of dry-laid stone.Windows include 6/1 and 2/2 wood double-hung sashThe front of the house is clad in vinyl siding, but the east side is clad in wood shingles.
1316 Buchanan Street 118-5238-0021 Other DHR Id#: Primary
Resource: Single Dwelling (Building), Stories 2, Style: Colonial Revival, 1910 Contributing Total: 1
This two-story, three-bay house features a hipped roof with smaller cross gable on the left side and a hipped dormer (enclosed). The roof is constructed of standing seam metal and the exterior walls of the house are clad in vinyl siding. Typical windows are 1/1 vinyl replacements, and a one-story, hipped-roof porch supported by Tuscan columns dominates the facade. The foundation of the house is likely brick covered by plastic faux stone panels.
1322 Buchanan Street 118-5238-0022 Other DHR Id#:
Primary Resource: Single Dwelling (Building), Stories 1, Style: Victorian, Folk, 1900 Contributing Total: 1
This small, one-story house features a gabled ell on the right side of the facade and a two-bay porch on the facade's left side. The central bay contains a single-leaf entry door with a glass transom, and windows throughout the home are 6/6 replacement units. The house is clad in vinyl siding, and the roof is covered with asphalt shingles. The foundation consists of parged brick.
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018
Pierce Street Historic District City of Lynchburg, VA Name of Property County and State
Section 7 page 7
Fillmore Street
1301 Fillmore Street 118-5238-0023 Other DHR Id#:
Primary Resource: Single Dwelling (Building), Stories 2, Style: No Discernible Style, 1905 Contributing Total: 1
This small two-story, two-bay house has a side-gable roof with Greek cornice returns. A one-story hipped roof porch shelters the front entry, and a two-story addition is on the rear of the house. The roof is of standing seam metal, the house is clad in vinyl siding, and the window are 1/1 vinyl replacement units. The foundation consists of a combination of brick and concrete masonry units.
1307 Fillmore Street 118-5238-0024 Other DHR Id#:
Primary Resource: Church/Chapel (Building), Stories 1, Style: No Discernible Style, 1877 Contributing Total: 1
The main block of this church consists of a rectangular building with a hipped roof. A tall, square tower is attached to the front (narrow) end of the building, and is topped by a pyramidal roof. The tower has a double-leaf entry, and first floor windows are 2/2 double-hung replacement units. The building is clad in smooth wood weatherboard siding. The foundation is constructed of brick coated with parging.
1309 Fillmore Street 118-5238-0025 Other DHR Id#:
Primary Resource: Single Dwelling (Building), Stories 1.5, Style: Craftsman, 1933 Contributing Total: 1
The diminutive shingle-covered home at 1309 Fillmore Street features a second (garret) level (cantilevered over the front porch) with a small balcony facing the street. The side-gable roof is covered with asphalt shingles, and the first floor exterior is clad in vinyl siding. Typical windows are 1/1 double-hung sash units. The foundation is parged masonry (probably brick).
Fourteenth Street
1518 Fourteenth Street 118-5238-0018 Other DHR Id#:
Primary Resource: Single Dwelling (Building), Stories 2, Style: No Discernible Style, 1900 Contributing Total: 1
This two-story, two-bay house is covered by a low-pitched side-gable roof of standing seam metal,
and rests on a brick foundation. The dwelling is clad in aluminum siding, and typical windows are 1/1/
double-hung replacements. A small hipped-roof front porch is located on the facade of the house, and
a small one- story addition is on the rear elevation.
Pierce Street
1300 Pierce Street 118-5238-0001 Other DHR Id#:
Primary Resource: Single Dwelling (Building), Stories 2, Style: Colonial Revival, Ca 1950 Contributing Total: 1
This two-story, three-bay house has a side-gable roof covered with asphalt three-tab shingles. Its exterior consists of brick laid in a running bond, features a basket-weave brick water table, and rests
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018
Pierce Street Historic District City of Lynchburg, VA Name of Property County and State
Section 7 page 8
on a foundation of poured concrete. Fenestration includes 8/8 double-hung sash windows on the first floor and 6/6 double-hung sash windows on the second floor. The central entry is surrounded by an elliptical fanlight with sidelights, and a rounded pediment supported by thin columns shelters the doorway.
1301 Pierce Street 118-5238-0002 Other DHR Id#:
Primary Resource: Mixed:Commerce/Domestic (Other), Stories , Style: Italianate, Ca 1875 Contributing Total: 1
This two-story frame building is covered by a hipped roof of standing seam metal, and is clad in wood weatherboard siding. The deeply-overhanging cornice is supported by wood brackets, and most windows consist of 2/2 double-hung wood sash. The left bay projects from the facade toward the street, and contains a single-leaf doorway. The two right-hand bays are recessed and contain polygonal storefront windows that flank the main entry to the building. The oldest portion of the building rests on a foundation of brick laid in three-course common bond, while newer sections are supported by brick piers with concrete masonry unit infill.
1306 Pierce Street 118-5238-0003 Other DHR Id#:
Primary Resource: Single Dwelling (Building), Stories 2.5, Style: Craftsman, 1924 Contributing Total: 1
The two-and-a-half story house is covered by a hipped roof of slate with a pair of hipped dormers. The exterior is clad in stucco, and typical windows consist of 8/1 double-hung sash. The entry is surrounded by sidelights and topped with a fanlight, and a one-story, one-bay porch with square posts and Tuscan columns occupies the central (entry bay). Two pairs of glazed French doors flank the central bay, and open onto a small concrete patio.
1309 Pierce Street 118-5238-0004 Other DHR Id#:
Primary Resource: Church/Chapel (Building), Stories 1, Style: No Discernible Style, Ca 1875 Contributing Total: 1
This gable-front building is clad in stained wood shingles and is fenestrated by 1/1 arch-topped windows. A small addition on the front of the building contains a double-leaf entry and a small tower on the right side. The foundation consists of brick piers with concrete masonry unit infill.
1310 Pierce Street 118-5238-0005 Other DHR Id#:
Primary Resource: Single Dwelling (Building), Stories 2, Style: No Discernible Style, 2009 Non-contributing Total: 1
This two-bay, two-story house has a side gable roof of standing seam metal, is clad in Hardiplank siding, and has a concrete foundation. A full-width, shed-roofed porch shelters its single-leaf entry door. Fenestration includes 1/1 double-hung sash windows.
1311 Pierce Street 118-5238-0007 Other DHR Id#:
Primary Resource: Single Dwelling (Building), Stories 2.5, Style: No Discernible Style, 1919 Contributing Total: 1
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018
Pierce Street Historic District City of Lynchburg, VA Name of Property County and State
Section 7 page 9
This 2.5 story house is covered by a hipped roof of standing seam metal, is clad in stained wood shingles, and rests on a parged masonry foundation. A one-story, full-width porch on the front features a modillioned cornice and Tuscan columns supported by piers. Typical windows are 1/1 double-hung sash units.
1312 Pierce Street 118-5238-0006 Other DHR Id#:
Primary Resource: Single Dwelling (Building), Stories 2, Style: No Discernible Style, 1929 Contributing Total: 1
This house has a hipped roof covered by asphalt shingles with a hipped dormer. Clad in vinyl siding, the house is fenestrated by 1/1 double-hung sash windows. A one-story porch with hipped roof is supported by brick columns. The house rests on a brick foundation.
1313 Pierce Street 118-0061 Other DHR Id#: 118-5238-0008
Primary Resource: Single Dwelling (Building), Stories 2, Style: Victorian, Queen Anne, Ca 1900 Contributing Total: 1
Architecture Summary: The Anne Spencer House (NRHP 1976) at 1313 Pierce Street is a medium-
sized, modified Queen Anne style dwelling located in a block of dwellings of similar size and age. Set
on a relatively narrow lot with little space between it and the adjacent buildings, the house blends with
its neighbors and makes no special visual or architectural statement. It is a comfortable, commodious
structure, well maintained, and in a good state of preservation. It has remained virtually unchanged,
inside and out, since it was occupied by Mrs. Spencer.
The house's exterior walls are sheathed in shingles which vary in length from course to course. The
roof is of standing seam sheet metal. Typical of its ilk, the house has an irregular plan, hence an
irregular facade. The two bay façade is dominated by a slightly projecting gabled pavilion. The
entrance, a round headed door, is in the single bay to the left of the pavilion. The first floor of the
facade is shaded by a porch, supported on square wooden posts, extending the length of the facade and
around the southeast corner. The porch connects at the northeast corner with a one story pergola which
extends along the house's north side to the dining room projection. The concrete porch and pergola floor
is given distinction by being scored in squares with the squares painted alternately black and light gray
forming a checkered pattern. Except for the gabled pavilion the house is covered by a hipped roof. A
single dormer is located on the rear slope. An interior end chimney stack serving the fireplaces in the
parlor and dining room extends from the edge of the roof's north slope.
The side elevations of the Spencer house have few distinctive features except for the pergola. The
west or rear elevation is dominated by a rectangular projection containing an informal sitting room or
sun room on the first floor and a sleeping porch above. The sun room is lighted by five closely spaced
windows that are shaded by a metal awning with scalloped eaves. The sleeping porch has a long, three-
unit window. An exterior stair ascends from a door in the south side of the sun room.
The interior of the house is architecturally unpretentious; what little trim exists is primarily stock
woodwork of the period, such as symmetrically molded architraves with turned corner blocks. The
house is entered through the stair hall. The stairs ascend immediately to the left of the front door (in the
southeast corner of the house). Behind the stair hall is an alcove used primarily for the storage of books.
The north side of the house contains the parlor, dining room and sun room. All the rooms are connected
by wide, double doorways. The kitchen is located in the southwest corner. A back stair ascends from
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018
Pierce Street Historic District City of Lynchburg, VA Name of Property County and State
Section 7 page 10
the sun room, between the kitchen and dining room. The second floor has four bedrooms (including the
sleeping porch), a bath, and laundry. The attic, historically a playroom, contains a model railroad layout
and dormitory-style beds.
The primary interest of the interior is not its architecture but the fact that it contains all the decorations,
furnishings, and other appointments precisely as they were in Mrs. Spencer's lifetime. Most of the items
are of pre-World War II vintage, a few of the furnishings are Victorian. The interest Mrs. Spencer took
in her possessions and immediate surroundings is reflected in numerous mementoes and items of
personal or sentimental significance scattered about the house. The rather crowded rooms with their
colorful appointments have a comfortable dignity combined with a nostalgic hominess.
The area immediately behind the house was once occupied by a garage. The building has since been
demolished but its concrete flooring remains intact. A lattice fence separates the garage area from the
garden proper. At the east end of the garden is the small, one room, shingled cottage used by Mrs.
Spencer as her study. The front of the cottage is sheltered by a porch supported on turned posts salvaged
from another house. A stone chimney with an exterior fireplace is on the front of the cottage. The
cottage interior has a locally-quarried greenstone floor and walls sheathed in natural-finished plywood.
The walls are virtually covered with documents and photographs of Mrs. Spencer's friends, family and
associates. A simple desk is placed in front of the pair of windows overlooking the garden.
Today, the house and secondary resources are well-kept and in good repair.
Secondary Resource : Garden (Site) Contributing Total: 1 Secondary Resource : Secondary Dwelling Contributing Total: 1
1314 Pierce Street 118-5238-0009 Other DHR Id#:
Primary Resource: Single Dwelling (Building), Stories 2, Style: Victorian, Folk, 1900 Contributing Total: 1
This house has a front gable roof with lozenge-shaped wood shingles in the gable. A one-story hipped-roof porch spans the width of the house, and is supported by turned wood posts. Typical fenestration includes 2/1 double-hung sash windows. The house has a brick foundation.
1316 Pierce Street 118-5238-0010 Other DHR Id#:
Primary Resource: Single Dwelling (Building), Stories 2, Style: Victorian, Folk, 1900 Contributing Total: 1
This house has a front gable roof with lozenge-shaped wood shingles in the gable. A one-story hipped-roof porch spans the width of the house, and is supported by turned wood posts. Typical fenestration includes 2/1 double-hung sash windows. The house rests on a brick foundation.
1317 Pierce Street 118-5238-0011 Other DHR Id#:
Primary Resource: Single Dwelling (Building), Stories 2.5, Style: Victorian, Queen Anne, 1904 Contributing Total: 1
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018
Pierce Street Historic District City of Lynchburg, VA Name of Property County and State
Section 7 page 11
This house has a hipped roof of standing seam metal and is clad in vinyl siding. Typical windows are 2/2 double-hung vinyl replacement units. The front porch is covered by a hipped roof and is supported by turned wooden posts.
1321 Pierce Street 118-5238-0012 Other DHR Id#:
Primary Resource: Single Dwelling (Building), Stories 2, Style: No Discernible Style, Ca 1875 Contributing Total: 1
The structure of this house is that of a typical Lynchburg Italianate gabled-ell dwelling, however its coating of faux stone material somewhat disguises its history. The roof is of asphalt shingles, and a one-story porch with standing seam metal shed roof wraps around the front and left sides of the building. Numerous additions on the rear are also encapsulated in faux stone (likely a mid-20th century modification)
1322 Pierce Street 118-5238-0013 Other DHR Id#:
Primary Resource: Single Dwelling (Building), Stories 1, Style: Ranch, 1968 Non-Contributing Total: 1
This one-story ranch house is constructed of brick laid in running bond atop a parged masonry foundation, and has a side gable roof with cross gable on the left end. Windows are 2/2 (horizontal) double-hung sash units or variants thereof. A flat-roofed carport projects from the rear of the house.
1408 Pierce Street 118-5238-0014 Other DHR Id#:
Primary Resource: Single Dwelling (Building), Stories 1, Style: No Discernible Style, 1969 Non-Contributing Total: 1
This low, one-story brick house has a front-gable roof covered in asphalt shingles. Typical windows include 2/2 (horizontal) double-hung sash units, and the facade is dominated by a hipped-roof porch with aluminum awning. The house is supported by a parged masonry foundation.
1410 Pierce Street 118-5238-0015 Other DHR Id#:
Primary Resource: Single Dwelling (Building), Stories 1, Style: No Discernible Style, 1920 Contributing Total: 1
This low, wide gable-fronted house is clad in vinyl siding and has a hipped-roof porch supported by welded metal posts. Windows are 1/1 double-hung vinyl sash units, and the houses rests on a brick foundation.
1422 Pierce Street 118-0225-0077 Other DHR Id#: 118-5238-0016
Primary Resource: Single Dwelling (Building), Stories 2, Style: Craftsman, 1911 Contributing Total: 1
The Dr. Walter Johnson House and Tennis Court (NRHP 2002) stands as a good example of the American Foursquare style with its two-story, two-bay form with hipped roof and full-width porch, the frame building sits on a raised concrete basement and features a combination of weatherboard siding and wood shingles.
See nomination for additional architectural information. There have been no notable changes
have been made to the property since the NRHP nomination. The first floor windows and
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018
Pierce Street Historic District City of Lynchburg, VA Name of Property County and State
Section 7 page 12
doors have been covered by painted plywood. The physical condition is poor due to further
deterioration of the slate roof.
To the rear of the house is a small, weatherboard-sided shed with a gable roof that it set on a
high concrete foundation at the lot’s back corner with Fifteenth Street. In the side yard, two
short metal posts (which supported the net) serve as the only visible reminders of Dr.
Johnson’s clay tennis court (currently overgrown with grass) that was the training ground for
many African American athletes.
Secondary Resource : Garage (Building) Contributing Total: 1 Secondary Resource : Tennis Court (Structure) Contributing Total: 1
1423 Pierce Street 118-5238-0017 Other DHR Id#:
Primary Resource: Mixed: Commerce/Domestic (Other), Stories , Style: Victorian, Folk, 1910
Total: 1
This building features a projecting gabled-ell on the left side of the facade, and has a one-story porch across the entire front. Lozenge-shaped wood shingles trim the tympanum of the front- facing gable, and the building is clad in smooth weatherboard. The building rests on a parged masonry foundation.
Secondary Resource : Mixed: Domestic/Industrial (Other)
Contributing Total: 1
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018
Pierce Street Historic District City of Lynchburg, VA Name of Property County and State
Section 8 page 13
_________________________________________________________________
8. Statement of Significance
Applicable National Register Criteria
(Mark "x" in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property for National Register
listing.)
A. Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the
broad patterns of our history.
B. Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past.
C. Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of
construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values,
or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack
individual distinction.
D. Property has yielded, or is likely to yield, information important in prehistory or
history.
Criteria Considerations
(Mark “x” in all the boxes that apply.)
A. Owned by a religious institution or used for religious purposes
B. Removed from its original location
C. A birthplace or grave
D. A cemetery
E. A reconstructed building, object, or structure
F. A commemorative property
G. Less than 50 years old or achieving significance within the past 50 years
x
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Areas of Significance
(Enter categories from instructions.)
ETHNIC HERITAGE: Black
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
Period of Significance
1862-1964
___________________
___________________
Significant Dates
1873, 1877, 1913
___________________
___________________
Significant Person
(Complete only if Criterion B is marked above.)
_N/A_______________
___________________
___________________
Cultural Affiliation
_N/A_______________
___________________
___________________
Architect/Builder
McLaughlin, James T.
___________________
___________________
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Statement of Significance Summary Paragraph (Provide a summary paragraph that includes
level of significance, applicable criteria, justification for the period of significance, and any
applicable criteria considerations.)
The Pierce Street Historic District encompasses approximately 5 acres of urban residential
neighborhood to the south of Lynchburg’s central business district and just north of the Kemper
Street Industrial Historic District. The district includes 26 contributing resources and 6 non-
contributing resources. Two properties within the historic district, the Anne Spencer House and
the Dr. Walter John House and Tennis Court, are individually listed in the NRHP. The district
has a period of significance beginning in 1862 with the creation of Camp Davis, which after the
Civil War served as a safe haven for formerly enslaved African Americans under the auspices of
the Freedmen’s Bureau. The period of significance ends in 1964.1 Following its use as a military
camp and hospital during the Civil War and Reconstruction, the district began developing as a
residential neighborhood. By the 1870s, property in the district was being purchased by African
Americans who established homes, businesses, and places of worship in a small, two-block
cloister surrounded by predominately white neighbors. Over time, an environment developed
that fostered the creation or support of notable African American figures in education, literature,
aviation, sports, and medicine over multiple generations, making it locally significant under
Criterion A in the area of Ethnic Heritage for its role as a micro-neighborhood that celebrated
African American growth and culture from the late nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth
century. The district displays substantial integrity of location, material, association, design, and
workmanship.
______________________________________________________________________________
Narrative Statement of Significance (Provide at least one paragraph for each area of
significance.)
Civil War and Reconstruction
During the mid-19th
century, the future Pierce Street neighborhood was part of the
“Spring Valley” estate of William Davis, Jr. (1770-1853).2 By the early1860s, Lynchburg
residential neighborhoods had expanded far beyond Diamond Hill, Federal Hill, Garland Hill,
and other neighborhoods adjacent to the city’s commercial center on the James River. Twelfth
Street doubled as the Lynchburg & Salem Turnpike, and designated streets extended southward
at least to Floyd Street.
By May of 1861, the area roughly bounded by 12th, 16th, Pierce, and Kemper Streets
was known as “Camp Davis,” and served as a mustering ground for Confederate troops and
home to the Pratt Hospital. By overlaying the Civil War-era map of Lynchburg on a current map,
it appears that the bulk of the structures (buildings or tents arranged in rows) lay within the block
bounded by 13th, 14th, Pierce, and Buchanan with a single building on the southeast side of
Thirteenth Street between Pierce and Fillmore. A circa 1900 description of the site noted that
there were “a number of one-story frame houses, which were built in rows, where the officers
stayed, one or two of which are now standing.”3 As the military presence in Lynchburg grew,
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camps spilled out of Camp Davis and skirted the southern and western edges of the city,
including the fairgrounds near present-day E.C. Glass High School.
Camp Davis served as a muster ground and encampment for newly-recruited troops from
throughout the Southern states, including local soldiers entering the 2d Virginia Cavalry and 11th
Virginia Infantry Regiments. In May 1861, Capt. William Crawford of the 1st Arkansas Infantry
Regiment wrote home from Camp Davis, reporting that, among others, two Tennessee regiments
had also arrived, and that his men would remain in Lynchburg for two weeks while they
conducted drill exercises.4 In all, over 4,000 soldiers were present at Camp Davis and its
environs in the late spring of 1861. Like all mustering facilities, Camp Davis’ purpose was to
process units of state troops in order to ready them for service under the Confederate States of
America. However, not all soldiers at the camp were as disciplined as their commanders might
have wished. In June 1861, three soldiers of the Floyd Guard deserted from Camp Davis. A few
weeks earlier, a fight broke out amongst some of the Tennessee troops at the camp. Lieutenant
Joseph Davidson of the 1st Tennessee Regiment attempted to diffuse the row, but was fatally shot
in the chest by Joseph Taylor, a private soldier.5
A medical facility, called Pratt Hospital, was established at Camp Davis by April of 1863
as a response to the increasing number of sick soldiers in the city.6 By the war’s end in 1865,
more than 130 Confederate soldiers had died there, although thousands had been treated and
released from the facility. In May 1864 alone, over 3,000 soldiers were sent to Pratt as
Lynchburg’s other hospitals reached capacity.7 In the spring of 1864, W.C. Nicholson of the 2d
Virginia Artillery wrote to his sister Cate, reporting that he had been wounded and was at Pratt
Hospital. He was recovering well, but complained of the meals, saying that he “would not mind
staying here so bad if they would give me enough to eat. I have just eat dinner & I just had
enough to give me an apetite [sic].”8
At the close of the Civil War, the Federal Army assumed control of Camp Davis, which
was alternately referred to as Camp Schofield by the Federal government. The 29th
United States
Infantry Regiment was stationed to post-war duty at Lynchburg, with Brevet Major General
Orlando Wilcox as commander of the regiment and of the “District of Lynchburg.” Officers
specifically assigned to Camp Schofield included Brevet Colonel George P. Buell (post
commandant) and Lieutenant Ogden B. Read (post adjutant). Late in 1867, Colonel Thomas E.
Rose assumed command of the camp.9 As the citizens of Lynchburg began the process of
resuming their pre-war livelihoods, commercial and industrial buildings that had served as
makeshift hospitals during the war were returned to their original functions, and the Federal
army continued operation of the former Pratt Hospital at Camp Davis for military purposes.
Between 1865 and 1869, more than a dozen soldiers and civilians (including the child of
Caroline, a former slave) died at the facility, but many more were successfully treated, including
Private John Holden (29th
Infantry), who was injured in a train accident near Keswick, Virginia,
in the fall of 1868. Following a two-month treatment for head injuries, he was discharged and
returned to his company.10
Activities at Camp Schofield were not limited to those of a martial
nature, however. In January of 1868, newspapers reported that the soldiers had organized a
“dramatic association” and performed plays in the camp.11
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As the seat of the Federal presence in the Lynchburg area under Reconstruction, Camp
Davis/Schofield also served as the headquarters for District 7 of the Bureau of Refugees,
Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (Freedmen’s Bureau), which covered nine counties in southern
Virginia.12
Captain Robert Stinson Lacey (1832-1915), Assistant Quartermaster, U.S. Army, was
assigned to the post of superintendent of District 7 for four years following the war.
Among other services, the Freedmen’s Bureau offered government rations to former
slaves and their families, and the black population of Camp Davis rose significantly as refugees
established makeshift dwellings in the area. The Pennsylvania Freedmen’s Relief Association
sent Jacob W. Shoemaker and Jacob E. Yoder (1838-1905) to operate a school at Camp Davis,
which by May of 1866 had 322 students enrolled. Two years later, in 1868, a group of African
American residents requested permission to transfer the school to a larger barracks building at
Camp Davis. This effort led to the formation of the Educational Association of Lynchburg,
which was also known as the Howard Educational Association (likely named for Freedmen’s
Bureau chief Oliver Howard). Ultimately, the association succeeded in raising funds for the
construction of a purpose-built school on Polk Street in 1870. Following the departure of the
Freedmen’s school from Camp Davis, Yoder ultimately became first superintendent of African
American schools in Lynchburg.13
As early as 1867, John T. Davis and Isaac Hartshorne, heirs of William Davis, Jr. (owner
of the Camp Davis land), began the process of reclaiming their family’s property following what
would become a decade of occupation by two armies. Captain Lacey, who was responsible for
administering “abandoned lands” on behalf of the Freedmen’s Bureau, instructed them that in
order to obtain title to the land, they would need to, among other tasks, prove their loyalty to the
United States. Following Virginia’s re-admittance to the Union in 1870, the United States Army
withdrew its presence from Camp Davis, and the land was returned to William Davis’ heirs.14
By the mid-1870s, the Camp Davis area had been annexed by the City of Lynchburg, and
development pushed farther south to a small stream known as “Boundary Brook.” Five
additional streets (Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, Kemper, and Holliday) had been added, although
they had been temporarily designated by the letters A through E, respectively. Like the older
portion of Lynchburg, the neighborhood was divided into two-acre blocks, each divided into four
half-acre lots. The named streets ran generally parallel to the James River, while the more
narrow numbered streets ran perpendicular to the river.15
A Safe Haven for African American Families
The neighborhood quickly became a destination for former slaves seeking employment in
the city. In 1874, two small lots along Buchanan Street were purchased by two African
Americans: Wilson J. Brown, a tobacco factory worker, and Daniel Goggin, who worked as a
gardener. These men, along with several white landlords, constructed a row of houses in the
1300 block of Buchanan Street by 1875 (1306 and 1308 Buchanan remain today). In 1873,
tobacco factory worker Winston Calloway (c. 1825-1887), also an African American, purchased
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a quarter-acre lot along Pierce Street and promptly began improving the property. By 1875, a
building valued at $300.00, likely the facility known as “Calloway Hall,” had been constructed
on the lot. According to oral tradition, this building served as a neighborhood gathering place
and market where local farmers would sell eggs, produce, and other goods.
In 1877, William Ford sold a quarter-acre lot at the corner of Thirteenth and Pierce
Streets to William Jacob Calloway (1854-1907).16
The 1880 census indicates that W.J. Calloway
was working at a tobacco factory and living with his aunt and uncle, Winston and Ann Calloway.
However, William had plans to improve his situation, and the same year, he took out a deed of
trust for $309.30 on his lot at the corner of Thirteenth and Pierce. This loan likely funded the
construction of a building on the site, as the 1881 land tax records indicate that improvements
valued at $600.00 had been added to the property. By 1885, the value of improvements on the lot
rose significantly to $2,000.00, which represents the bulk (if not all) of the building that is extant
on the site today at 1301 Pierce Street.17
Calloway began operating a grocery store at his large,
newly-constructed building, which became one of the neighborhood’s first African American-
owned businesses. He and his wife, Rebecca Lucinda Pride (1855-1900), lived above the store
for a number of years. Rebecca attended Hampton Institute in 1882 and hailed from one of
Lynchburg’s most revered black families, which had been free since the early nineteenth
century.18
As early as 1902, Edward Spencer (husband of poet Anne Spencer) had become a
business partner with William J. Calloway, and the store at 1301 Pierce operated as “Calloway &
Spencer.” Calloway died in 1907 and left the store and his personal property to Edward and
Warwick Spencer, Jr., who he called his “dear friends.” The Spencer brothers continued to
operate the store until 1913, when they leased it to white grocer Harry D. Logwood, who ran the
business through 1920.19
By the mid-1880s, the 1300 and 1400 blocks of Pierce Street were quickly becoming a
neighborhood of choice for African Americans. In 1887, 80% of the occupied houses in those
two blocks had black residents. This is remarkable when compared to the remaining twelve
blocks of Pierce Street which, combined, only contained 32% African American occupants.20
In
1900, the 800 through 1200 blocks of Pierce Street were completely occupied by white families,
as were the 1500 and 1600 blocks of the street. In the 1300 and 1400 blocks, 9 out of 13, or 69%
of the homes were occupied by African Americans.21
In 1904, Warwick Spencer (1847-1927), along with his sons Warwick, Jr. and Edward,
purchased approximately three-quarters of an acre in the southeastern half of the 1300 block of
Pierce Street.22
Warwick and his wife Mary Susan Payne (1848-1936) were both born into
slavery. Following the Civil War, they lived on a farm in Appomattox County and purchased
property in Lynchburg (at what would become known as 1800 Holliday Street) in 1872.23
Warwick, a foreman at the J.H. Heald & Co. bark mill, had acquired several additional properties
near his Holliday Street home and Fishing Creek during the 1880s. Most of these acquisitions,
including the lot on Pierce Street, involved trustee or commissioner sales, which probably placed
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Warwick on a “level playing field” with other buyers and helped him gain real estate at
reasonable prices.
Warwick and Mary were active supporters of their community. In 1895, they donated
$10.00 to a fundraising campaign of the Virginia Seminary (now Virginia University of
Lynchburg), and Warwick was a trustee of the Eighth Street Baptist Church in the late 1890s.24
At the time of the Spencers’ purchase on Pierce Street, the lot contained a “five room
house” at the western corner of Pierce and Fourteenth Streets (1321 Pierce) along with a small
store building, which had been demolished by 1907. Warwick and Mary moved into the existing
house at 1321 Pierce Street and immediately enlarged it. Warwick Spencer, Jr. constructed a
house at 1317 Pierce, and his brother Edward built the house at 1313 Pierce Street.25
Edward
Spencer followed his father’s practice of real estate acquisition and development, buying small
lots at the rate of “two for a quarter,” or two lots for twenty five dollars. He built a cluster of
houses (known as “Spencer Place”) in the neighborhood, most of which followed the plan of the
homes at 1314 and 1316 Pierce Street.26
The 1300 and 1400 blocks of Pierce Street remained an enclave for African Americans in
1910, with 72% of the households occupied by blacks. The 1200 and 1300 blocks of Fillmore
Street were also heavily African American, as were the 1300 through 1500 blocks of Buchanan
Street. These few blocks were largely surrounded by white residents for a considerable
distance.27
During the early 20th
century, the notable Humbles family occupied the small residence at
1301 Fillmore Street. In 1910, retail grocer Alphonza Humbles, wife Celinda, and four children
were living in the house along with Marcellus Nowlin, their 13-year-old mulatto servant. Also in
the home was 63-year-old Adolphus Humbles (Alphonza’s father). Adolphus Humbles (1845-
1926) was a successful merchant in Campbell County, and operated the toll road between
Lynchburg and Rustburg (the seat of Campbell County). He served as the Treasurer of both the
Virginia State Baptist Convention and the Virginia Theological Seminary and College (now
known as the Virginia University of Lynchburg), where the school’s main building bears his
name. Also active in politics, he served as Chairman of the Campbell County Executive
Committee for the Republican Party for thirteen years. In 1915, he constructed the large, three-
story Humbles Building at 901 Fifth Street. The home was later occupied by Clara and T.P.
Smith, who operated Smith’s Business College on Fifth Street.28
In 1940, the 1300 and 1400 blocks of Pierce Street remained a bastion of Lynchburg’s
African American neighborhoods, with 84% of the households containing black families. As in
previous decades, self-segregation seemed to occur on a block-by-block basis rather than across
entire neighborhoods. While the 600, 700, and 1700 blocks of Pierce Street were heavily African
American, the 800-1200 and 1500-1600 blocks were almost all comprised of white households.
The former Calloway-Spencer Store at 1301 Pierce was operated as Hamilton’s Cash Store, and
the combination dwelling/store at 1423 Pierce was operated as a grocery by Charles Simmons
(both Hamilton and Simmons were white businessmen).29
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Religious and Benevolent Institutions
In 1881, Irish-born grocer and barkeeper Richard Matthews and his wife Annie sold (for
one dollar) to trustees of the “African Church in Lynchburg” a quarter-acre lot on Fillmore Street
where a congregation had “recently erected a house of public worship.”30
This church, which
would later be known as Marshall Chapel A.M.E. Church, is located at 1307 Fillmore Street.
Among those who built the church was William Taylor, a 37-year-old African American
brickmason.31
The first minister assigned to the congregation was Richard J. Gassaway (1825-
1891), who was followed by Rev. John Edward Cooke (b. 1836), Rev. John H. Brown, and Rev.
Jordan Gordon.
Richard and Annie Matthews’ 1881 deed placed several restrictions upon the
congregation, which limited its ability to encumber the church property with debt or to use it for
purposes other than worship. At some point during the 1880s, the trustees of the church rented
the building to the City of Lynchburg for use as a school, which displeased Matthews and led to
a legal battle. In 1894, the congregation received permission from the courts to take out a loan to
purchase the lot adjacent to the church for the purpose of erecting a parsonage, which was built
during the tenure of Rev. Henry Standup Roberts, the church’s pastor from 1900 to 1905.32
Between August of 1907 and June of 1909, the congregation rented space from the estate
of William J. Calloway on Pierce Street so that they could conduct services during a renovation
of Marshall Chapel. Among other things, this expansion added the front tower with pyramidal
roof that defines the church today.33
In the early 1930s, the parsonage at 1309 Fillmore was
either replaced or renovated to its current appearance, although the construction may have been
more costly than the congregation could bear, as the dwelling was auctioned in 1936 and
purchased by Maud H. Robertson, a white retail grocer who lived in the neighborhood.
Robertson likely rented the house to Marshall Chapel for some time, as the 1930 City Directory
lists Rev. David R. Washington living there. Marshall Chapel continues to be owned by the
trustees of the church, although it is no longer home to an active congregation.34
Around 1912, African American tobacco factory worker-turned-minister Richard Buster
(a former slave) encouraged his prayer group to relocate to an unidentified two-story house near
the intersection of Thirteenth and Pierce Streets, calling the new gathering the “Peaceful
Mission.” Rev. William H. Johnson facilitated the merger of the group with the Salem Street
“prayer band,” and in June of 1912, the newly-energized group became Peaceful Baptist
Church.35
In 1914, the Lynchburg Corporation Court appointed trustees for Peaceful Baptist
Church, including A.T. Worthy, George Jones, Woodson Tweedy, William Dickey, and
Washington Dillard. Several of these individuals had purchased a small lot at 1309 Pierce Street
the prior year, and in November of 1914, the membership of the church met and agreed to allow
the trustees to borrow money to secure a debt of $1629.25 to local contractor R. G. Shelton &
Co., which funded the construction of the Peaceful Baptist Church located today at 1309 Pierce
Street.36
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The church paid off its construction loan in 1919, and the congregation met that spring to
endorse taking out another loan, which it apparently did in January of 1922 to make payment of
$1968.58 to R.G. Shelton & Co.37
A 1923 aerial photograph by Underwood and Underwood
shows the church with white weatherboard siding (which can still be seen beneath the current
shingle cladding) and a single steeple on the gable roof.38
This additional loan may have funded
a remodeling and expansion of the church in the mid-1920s.
A 1921 edition of the New York Age newspaper reported that Lynchburg was “witnessing
one of the greatest spiritual revivals ever known in the history of the city.” Several churches
were highlighted, including Peaceful Baptist, which was “in full swing” under the leadership of
Rev. Sandy A. Garland.39
Garland was a former pastor of White Rock Baptist Church, and led
the congregation of Peaceful Baptist from its inception through 1930. Subsequent pastors
included Rev. A. F. Brown and Rev. F. P. Lewis, who served the church for over three decades.
In 1983, the trustees of Peaceful Baptist purchased a former Seventh Day Adventist Church at
the intersection of Park Avenue and Langhorne Road and relocated the congregation to the new
site. The same year, trustees of Wayside Gospel Mission purchased the church building at 1309
Pierce Street, and continue to operate the church today.40
In the winter of 1897, notable black teacher Amelia Perry Pride (1857-1932) spearheaded
the creation of an “old folks home” at Winston Calloway’s former residence (demolished) at
1311 Pierce Street. This facility was called the “Dorchester Home,” in tribute to a resident of
Dorchester, Massachusetts, who donated funds for its creation. A contemporary publication
stated that Pride had enlisted the support of over one hundred area ladies to provide fuel, food,
and clothing for the elderly women (mostly former slaves) who resided there.41
This, in fact, was
one of three neighborhood locations operated by the Dorchester Home Association, which was
founded for the “maintenance of aged and indigent colored people.”42
The other Dorchester
Home locations were Calloway Hall and 1609 Thirteenth Street (both demolished), but
photographs in Amelia Pride’s papers at Hampton Institute (see additional information section)
depict the 1311 Pierce Street home, which suggests that this was the first, or primary, location.
In 1900, two older African American women were residing at William J. Calloway’s
store at 1301 Pierce, which had been outfitted with multiple apartments on the second floor.
These women were 50-year-old Rebecca Murphy and 65-year-old Adeline Charlton. Three
additional women between 82 and 89 years of age were living at 1609 Thirteenth Street. A 1904
publication by Hampton Institute (Amelia’s alma mater), reported that Pride,
…seeing the neglected condition of the old colored women of Lynchburg, asked the co-
operation of a few other women in comfortable circumstances and started, in the winter
of '97, an Old Folk's Home. As many as one hundred women finally became interested in
the project and committees were formed to provide fuel, food, clothing, and rent, for the
inmates of the Home. Through the assistance of Northern friends a building was finally
purchased and named the Dorchester Home. Here destitute old women were taken and
tenderly cared for as long as they lived. The Home is now in other hands, and Mrs. Pride
is in charge of an industrial school in the same city.43
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The home on Thirteenth Street was sold in 1903, and William J. Calloway assumed (or
resumed) responsibility for the remaining residents of the Dorchester Home, as his will (probated
in 1907) called for his friends Edward and Warwick Spencer, Jr. to “support for the rest of their
lives my old friends Rebecca Murphy, Lizzie Clark, and Eliza Cousins.” Indeed, the 1910
Census lists these three women residing as “inmates” at 1309 Pierce Street (presumably
Calloway Hall).
Home to Leaders in Literature and Education
Born in Henry County, Virginia, Anne Bethel Bannister (1882-1975) attended the nearby
Virginia Theological Seminary and College (now Virginia University of Lynchburg) from 1893
to 1899. There, she met fellow student Edward Alexander Spencer, who helped her with
mathematics and science while she tutored him in languages. Anne and Edward married in 1901
and a few years later, moved into the home at 1313 Pierce Street that Edward designed and built.
The couple had three children: Bethel Calloway, Alroy Sarah, and Chauncey Edward Spencer.
From 1912 to 1924, Edward Spencer served as the first African American parcel postman in
Lynchburg. In addition, he was a notary public and was involved in local real estate
development.
As their children grew, Anne became interested in literature, and began writing poems
focusing on nature, her garden, biblical themes, and mythology. Her talents were discovered by
James Weldon Johnson in 1919, and she became a key individual in the Harlem Renaissance
movement of the 1920s. With over thirty poems published during her lifetime, she was the first
Virginian and second African American to be included in the “Norton Anthology of Modern
Poetry.”
Of her home at 1313 Pierce, Anne wrote:
We have a lovely home - one that
money did not buy - it was born and evolved
slowly out of our passionate, poverty-
stricken agony to own our own home.
happiness.
Many notable figures of the twentieth century were guests at the Spencer Home,
including Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, George Washington Carver, and Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. Langston Hughes stayed with the Spencers in 1927, when he became the first
non-white lecturer at Lynchburg College. Three years later, he published a poem entitled “Anne
Spencer’s Table” in an effort to encourage her to keep writing.44
In addition to her poetic
pursuits, Anne served as the librarian at Dunbar High School for over two decades, and helped
form the Lynchburg Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People.
In the early 1930s, Professor Frank Trigg (1850-1933) and his wife Ellen Preston Taylor
(1858-1936) resided at 1422 Pierce Street, which had been constructed twenty years earlier by
notable white architect James T. McLaughlin (partner with Stanhope S. Johnson). Trigg was
born into slavery at the Executive Mansion in Richmond, as his parents were servants of
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Governor John B. Floyd. He attended Hampton Institute and became the first black male teacher
and first black high school principal in the Lynchburg school system. In 1890, he founded the
Virginia Collegiate and Industrial Institute (a branch of Morgan State College in Baltimore),
which was located off of Campbell Avenue in Lynchburg. He later served as Principal of
Princess Anne Academy in Maryland and President of Bennett College in North Carolina. Ellen
Preston Taylor also graduated from Hampton Institute and served as a public school teacher in
Lynchburg. After Professor Trigg’s death, their son, Frank R. Trigg (a physician whose office
was on Fifth Street) lived with his mother at 1422 Pierce until her death in 1936.
By 1940, African American dentist Henry P. Weeden and his wife Margaret Pauline
Fletcher had moved from Fifth Street to the home at 1316 Buchanan Street. Pauline, or “Polly”
as she was commonly known, received her undergraduate degree from Howard University and
her Masters of Arts from Columbia University. She worked at Dunbar High School for forty
years, where she was a teacher, guidance counselor, and administrative principal. Later known as
Pauline Weeden Maloney, she served on the board of the Central Virginia Planning District
Commission, was the first black woman appointed to the Lynchburg City School Board, and was
the first black elected President of the Southern Regional School Boards Association. Polly was
the first female Rector of the Norfolk State University Board of Visitors, and from 1957 to 1961,
served as the third National President of The Links, Incorporated. She died in Lynchburg in
1987.45
In 1951, Clarence William Seay (1900-1982) and his wife Clara Majors (1901-1978)
began living in the brick home at 1300 Pierce Street. Seay served as the Principal of Dunbar
High School from 1938-1968, and led the school through the years of the Civil Rights Movement
and integration. After retiring from the Lynchburg City School System, he was a member of the
faculty at Lynchburg College, and became Lynchburg’s first modern-day black City Council
member (he was also the first black Vice Mayor of the City). Seay was the President of the
Virginia State Teachers Association and was the first high school principal to be President of the
Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.46
Pioneers in Aviation, Medicine and Sports
The only son of Anne and Edward Spencer, Chauncey Edward Spencer (1906-2002) saw
his first aircraft in the skies over Lynchburg in 1917, and his lifelong fascination with aviation
began. After graduating from the all-black Dunbar High School, he attended college at the
Virginia Theological Seminary and College. Prompted by an invitation by Congressman Oscar
DePriest (who was visiting his parents) to move to Chicago in order to study aviation, he took a
part-time job and began flying lessons. Spencer, along with other aviators, founded the National
Airmen Association of America (NAAA).
In 1939, Spencer and fellow NAAA member Dale Lawrence White rented a biplane and
conducted a tour of ten cities that ended in Washington, D.C. Their goal was to showcase the
skills of African American pilots and to advocate the inclusion of people of color in the Army
Air Corps’ Civilian Pilot Training Program. In Washington, they met with Harry Truman and
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018
Pierce Street Historic District City of Lynchburg, VA Name of Property County and State
Section 8 page 24
other members of Congress to plead their cause. He was hired by the U.S. Army and became the
Civilian Personnel Employee Relations Officer at what would become the Wright-Patterson Air
Force Base, where he continued efforts to integrate the military.
In 1948, he received the Exceptional Civilian Service Award for service during World
War II (the highest honor the U.S. Air Force could award a civilian) in 1948. He continued
advocating civil rights within the Air Force, which caused considerable resentment among
upper-level officials who were opposed to the concept. In 1953, Spencer was accused of being a
Communist, charged with disloyalty, and was expelled from the Air Force. The next year, he was
cleared of charges by the Air Force, and was reinstated, taking a position at Norton Air Force
Base in California. In 1977, he retired to 1307 Pierce Street, where he lived until his death in
2002.47
In 1937, Dr. Robert Walter “Whirlwind” Johnson (1899-1971) purchased the house at
1422 Pierce Street. He attended Meharry Medical School and had a practice on Fifth Street
(Lynchburg’s African American commercial center) for many years. Dr. Johnson was the first
black physician to earn staff privileges at Lynchburg General Hospital, and the Johnson Health
Center on Federal Street is named in his honor. While his medical career was notable, Johnson is
also known for his active involvement in youth athletics. He founded the Junior Development
Program with the cooperation of the American Tennis Association, and hosted summer tennis
clinics at his home on Pierce Street, which boasted a clay tennis court on an adjacent lot. Two of
the many young African Americans who trained at Johnson’s residence were Wimbledon
champions Arthur Ashe and Althea Gibson. Non-tennis players also frequented the Johnson
home, including Duke Ellington, Count Baise, Lionel Hampton, and Jackie Robinson. Johnson
was posthumously inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 1972, the Mid-Atlantic
Tennis Hall of Fame in 1988, and the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2009.
Celebrating Pierce Street’s Legacy
The last quarter of the 20th
century ushered the passing of many of the district’s great
African American educators, physicians, writers, and businesspeople with Edward Spencer in
1964, Walter Johnson in 1971, Anne Spencer in 1975, Clarence W. Seay in 1982, and Pauline
Weeden Maloney in 1987. Pioneer aviator Chauncey Spencer died in 2002. In 1976, the Anne
Spencer House at 1313 Pierce Street was listed in the National Register of Historic Places
followed by the Dr. Walter Johnson House and Tennis Court at 1422 Pierce Street in 2002.
Since Anne Spencer’s death, the Anne Spencer House and Garden Museum, Inc., has
been working to restore and maintain the Spencer property, beginning with a restoration of the
gardens to their 1930s appearance in 1984. In 2005, Lynchburg City Council adopted a zoning
ordinance creating the Pierce Street Renaissance (local) Historic District. Several Virginia
Historical Markers highlighting the area's history have been installed, and community festivals
have increased in popularity. The residents of the neighborhood are still predominately African
American, but the district is no longer distinctive in this regard, as the surrounding College Hill
neighborhood has become increasingly African American in the past half century.
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018
Pierce Street Historic District City of Lynchburg, VA Name of Property County and State
Sections 9-end page 25
______________________________________________________________________________
9. Major Bibliographical References
Bibliography (Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form.)
Aerial Photo of Lynchburg, Underwood & Underwood, 1923, Jones Memorial Library,
Lynchburg, Virginia.
Alexandria Gazette newspaper
Army and Navy Journal, 27 April 1867, p. 570
Ashhurst, John. The International Encyclopedia of Surgery: a Systematic Treatise on the
Theory and Practice of Surgery, Volume 4. New York: William Wood & Company. 1888.
Baist Map of Lynchburg, 1891
“Chauncey Spencer Fact Sheet,” Hill Air Force Base,
http://www.hill.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=5942
Christian, W. Asbury. Lynchburg and its People. Lynchburg, Virginia: J.P. Bell, 1900.
City of Lynchburg Chancery Causes, Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
City of Lynchburg Chancery Index, Clerk of Circuit Court, Lynchburg, Virginia
City of Lynchburg Deed Books, Clerk of Circuit Court, Lynchburg, Virginia
City of Lynchburg Fiduciary Account Books, Clerk of Circuit Court, Lynchburg, Virginia
City of Lynchburg Geographic Information System, www.lynchburgva.gov
City of Lynchburg Land Tax Books, Clerk of Circuit Court, Lynchburg, Virginia
City of Lynchburg Will Books, Clerk of Circuit Court, Lynchburg, Virginia
“Clarence W. Seay: Man of Principles,” http://legacymuseum.org/newsletters/clarence-seay-
man-of-principles
Crawford, Capt. William A., “Letter to Sarah Henslee Crawford,” 19 May 1861. Arkansas
History Commission, web site: http://www.ark-ives.com/doc-a-day/?date=5/19/2011
Daily National Intelligencer newspaper
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018
Pierce Street Historic District City of Lynchburg, VA Name of Property County and State
Sections 9-end page 26
“Davidson-Davison, Confederate Soldiers of Tennessee,” web site:
http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~genea/Dmilcvtn.html
Delaney, Ted. “Pierce Street Personae.” Unpublished manuscript. Revised 2013.
Delaney, Ted. “Significant People and Places in the Greater Pierce Street Neighborhood.”
Unpublished manuscript. Revised 2013.
Diuguid Burial Records, Jones Memorial Library, Lynchburg, Virginia
Gilmer, J.F. “Lynchburg and Vicinity, Confederate Engineer Bureau, Richmond, 1864.”
Library of Congress, American Memory Collection.
Gray’s Map of Lynchburg, 1877.
Henry, Guy Verner. Military Record of Civilian Appointments in the United States Army,
Volume 1. New York: Carleton. 1869.
History of African Methodism in Virginia: Or, Four Decades in the Old Dominion. Hampton,
Virginia: Hampton Institute Press, 1908.
“History of Peaceful Baptist Church,” web site: http://peacefulbaptist.com/about-us/,
accessed 11 January 2014.
Horst, Samuel L., ed. The Fire of Liberty in Their Hearts: The Diary of Jacob E. Yoder of the
Freedmen’s Bureau School, Lynchburg, Virginia, 1866-1870. Richmond, Virginia: The
Library of Virginia, 1996.
Houck, Peter W. A Prototype of a Confederate Hospital Center in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Lynchburg, Virginia: Warwick House Publishing. 1986.
Lacey, Capt. R.S. “Letter to John T. Davis, Lynchburg, Virginia,” 3 February 1867, Letter
sold on eBay 4 July 2011. Link to partial transcription: http://www.ebay.es/itm/CIVIL-
WAR-VIRGINIA-FREEDMANS-BUREAU-1867-CAMP-DAVIS-/200618611567
Lynchburg City Directories, 1875-1960, Jones Memorial Library, Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg Daily Virginian newspaper
Kerr-Ritchie, Jeffrey R. Freedpeople in the Tobacco South: Virginia, 1860-1900. University
of North Carolina Press, 1999.
New York Age newspaper
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018
Pierce Street Historic District City of Lynchburg, VA Name of Property County and State
Sections 9-end page 27
Nicholson, W.C., “Letter from Pratt Hospital, Lynchburg, Virginia,” 23 May 1864, Virginia
Memory Collection, Library of Virginia.
“Past National President Pauline Weeden Maloney.” http://www.linksinc.org/maloney.shtml
“Religious Leaders Buried in the Old City Cemetery,”
http://www.gravegarden.org/ministers.htm
Richmond Planet newspaper
Richmond Whig newspaper
Sanborn Insurance Company maps of Lynchburg, 1895, 1902, 1907, 1951
Smith, W. Scott. “Fifth Street Historic District National Register of Historic Places
Nomination.” Lynchburg, Virginia: HistoryTech, LLC. 2011.
The Southern Workman, June 1900, Volume 9.
Spencer, Chauncey E. Who is Chauncey Spencer? Detroit, Michigan: Broadside Press, 1975.
Tripp, Steven Elliott. Yankee Town, Southern City: Race and Class Relations in Civil War
Lynchburg. New York: New York University Press, 1997.
United States Federal Census, Population Schedule, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930,
1940.
What Hampton graduates are doing in land-buying, in home-making, in business, in
teaching, in agriculture, in establishing schools, in the trades, in church and missionary
work, in the professions, 1868-1904. Hampton, Virginia: Hampton Institute Press. 1904.
White, Jane B. “Pierce Street Renaissance Historic District, Lynchburg, Virginia” (brochure).
Lynchburg, Virginia: Anne Spencer House and Garden Museum. 2012.
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018
Pierce Street Historic District City of Lynchburg, VA Name of Property County and State
Sections 9-end page 28
___________________________________________________________________________
Previous documentation on file (NPS):
____ preliminary determination of individual listing (36 CFR 67) has been requested
____ previously listed in the National Register
____ previously determined eligible by the National Register
____ designated a National Historic Landmark
____ recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey #____________
____ recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # __________
____ recorded by Historic American Landscape Survey # ___________
Primary location of additional data:
X State Historic Preservation Office
____ Other State agency
____ Federal agency
____ Local government
____ University
____ Other
Name of repository: Virginia Department of Historic Resources, Richmond, Virginia;
Historic Resources Survey Number (if assigned): VDHR# 118-5238
______________________________________________________________________________
10. Geographical Data
Acreage of Property 5.06
Use either the UTM system or latitude/longitude coordinates
Latitude/Longitude Coordinates
Datum if other than WGS84:_ __
(enter coordinates to 6 decimal places)
1. Latitude: Longitude:
2. Latitude: Longitude:
3. Latitude: Longitude:
4. Latitude: Longitude:
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018
Pierce Street Historic District City of Lynchburg, VA Name of Property County and State
Sections 9-end page 29
Or
UTM References
Datum (indicated on USGS map):
NAD 1927 or NAD 1983
1. Zone: 17S Easting: 0663595 Northing: 4141034
2. Zone: Easting: Northing:
3. Zone: Easting: Northing:
4. Zone: Easting : Northing:
Verbal Boundary Description (Describe the boundaries of the property.)
The boundaries of the 5-acre district are shown on the scale map that accompanies the
nomination, entitled “Pierce Street Historic District 118-5238.”
Boundary Justification (Explain why the boundaries were selected.)
The boundaries of the proposed district include all properties fronting on the 1300 block of
Pierce Street, the even-numbered side of the 1400 block of Pierce (along with 1423 Pierce),
1306 to 1322 (even) Buchanan Street, 1301-1309 (odd) Fillmore, and 1518 Fourteenth Street.
These boundaries are similar, but not identical, to the boundaries of the locally-designated
Pierce Street Renaissance Historic District. Additions to the local district include the
resources on Buchanan and Fillmore Street and several vacant lots on Buchanan, Thirteenth,
and Fourteenth Streets that are associated with other included primary resources. Properties
included in the local district that are omitted from the proposed State and National Register
district boundaries include five vacant lots on the southwest (odd-numbered) side of the 1400
block of Pierce Street along with the dwelling at 1409 Pierce, which was constructed in 1997.
The proposed boundaries include the bulk of the extant resources associated with the
primarily African American cluster of homes, businesses, and civic buildings in the 1300
blocks of Buchanan, Pierce, and Fillmore Streets along with the 1400 block of Pierce Street
dating from the late 19th
century through the mid-20th
century. The boundaries were devised
through a study of area maps, Census records, and city directories.48
For example, to ensure
that the constrained district boundary along Fillmore Street was justified, six decades of
Lynchburg City Directories between 1890 and 1940 were studied. During this period, all
homes on the northeast (even-numbered) side of Fillmore Street were consistently occupied
by whites. Homes on the southwest (odd-numbered) side of Fillmore between 1301 and 1309
were consistently occupied by blacks, while the remainder of the homes on that side of the
block (1321-1323) were consistently occupied by whites. Local records and organizations
X
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Pierce Street Historic District City of Lynchburg, VA Name of Property County and State
Sections 9-end page 30
(including the Anne Spencer House Museum & Garden and the Old City Cemetery) were
then consulted to establish that the included resources were not simply occupied by one
particular racial group, but that the occupants, in general, contributed to the advancement of
the African American community (on a local, statewide, or national level) or the Lynchburg
community as a whole.
______________________________________________________________________________
11. Form Prepared By
name/title: W. Scott Breckinridge Smith, Principal
organization: HistoryTech, LLC
street & number: Post Office Box 75
city or town: Lynchburg state: Virginia zip code: 24505
e-mail: [email protected]
telephone: 434-401-3995
date: 5 January 2014
___________________________________________________________________________
Additional Documentation
Submit the following items with the completed form:
Maps: A USGS map or equivalent (7.5 or 15 minute series) indicating the property's
location.
Sketch map for historic districts and properties having large acreage or numerous
resources. Key all photographs to this map.
Additional items: (Check with the SHPO, TPO, or FPO for any additional items.)
Photographs
Submit clear and descriptive photographs. The size of each image must be 1600x1200 pixels (minimum),
3000x2000 preferred, at 300 ppi (pixels per inch) or larger. Key all photographs to the sketch map. Each
photograph must be numbered and that number must correspond to the photograph number on the photo log.
For simplicity, the name of the photographer, photo date, etc. may be listed once on the photograph log and
doesn’t need to be labeled on every photograph.
Photo Log
Name of Property: Pierce Street Historic District
City or Vicinity: Lynchburg
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018
Pierce Street Historic District City of Lynchburg, VA Name of Property County and State
Sections 9-end page 31
County: City of Lynchburg State: Virginia
Photographer: W. Scott Smith
Date Photographed: March 2013
Description of Photograph(s) and number, include description of view indicating direction of
camera:
Photo 1 of 10: VA_LynchburgCity_PierceStreetHistoricDistrict_0001
View: Anne Spencer House, 1313 Pierce Street (camera pointed to southwest)
Photo 2 of 10: VA_LynchburgCity_PierceStreetHistoricDistrict_0002
View: 1300 Block Pierce Street (camera pointed to west)
Photo 3 of 10: VA_LynchburgCity_PierceStreetHistoricDistrict_0003
View: 1300 Block Pierce Street (camera pointed to northwest)
Photo 4 of 10: VA_LynchburgCity_PierceStreetHistoricDistrict_0004
View: 1300 Block Pierce Street (camera pointed to southeast)
Photo 5 of 10: VA_LynchburgCity_PierceStreetHistoricDistrict_0005
View: William J. Calloway Store, 1301 Pierce Street (camera pointed to southeast)
Photo 6 of 10: VA_LynchburgCity_PierceStreetHistoricDistrict_0006
View: Chauncey Spencer House, 1306 Pierce Street (camera pointed to northwest)
Photo 7 of 10: VA_LynchburgCity_PierceStreetHistoricDistrict_0007
View: Peaceful Baptist Church, 1309 Pierce Street (camera pointed to southeast)
Photo 8 of 10: VA_LynchburgCity_PierceStreetHistoricDistrict_0008
View: Marshall Chapel A.M.E. Church, 1307 Fillmore Street (camera pointed to
southeast)
Photo 9 of 10: VA_LynchburgCity_PierceStreetHistoricDistrict_0009
View: 1410 Pierce Street (camera pointed to east)
Photo 10 of 10: VA_LynchburgCity_PierceStreetHistoricDistrict_0010
View: 1423 Pierce Street (camera pointed to northwest)
Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate properties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listings. Response to this request is required to obtain a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C.460 et seq.). Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 100 hours per response including time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018
Pierce Street Historic District City of Lynchburg, VA Name of Property County and State
Sections 9-end page 32
this burden estimate or any aspect of this form to the Office of Planning and Performance Management. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, 1849 C. Street, NW, Washington, DC.
Endnotes 1 When the Anne Spencer House was listed in the NRHP in 1976, Periods of Significance were not
determined, but the 2002 NRHP nomination for the Walter Johnson property includes an extended POS to 1971, the year of his death. 2 “Spring Valley” was a two-story, double-pile brick dwelling which lay just south of the intersection of
present-day Twelfth and Kemper Streets (the current location of the Greater Lynchburg Transit Company garage). 3 1923 Underwood & Underwood Aerial Photo, Jones Memorial Library; 1907 Sanborn Insurance
Company Map; Alexandria Gazette, 20 May 1861, a soldier of the 11th Mississippi Regiment wrote a letter
from “Camp Davis, near Lynchburg, Va.;” Gilmer, J.F. “Lynchburg and Vicinity, Confederate Engineer Bureau, Richmond, 1864.” Library of Congress, American Memory Collection; Christian, W. Asbury. “Lynchburg and its People.” Lynchburg, Virginia: J.P. Bell, 1900. Pp. 198-199. 4 Letter, Capt. William A. Crawford to Sarah Henslee Crawford, 19 May 1861. Arkansas History
Commission, web site: http://www.ark-ives.com/doc-a-day/?date=5/19/2011 5 Lynchburg Daily Virginian, 20 June 1861; Daily National Intelligencer, 24 May 1861; “Davidson-Davison,
Confederate Soldiers of Tennessee,” web site: http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~genea/Dmilcvtn.html 6 “Army of Confederate States, Report of Soldiers Death.” J.M. Bailey, Company C, 49
th Georgia
Regiment, died of pneumonia on 25 April 1863. The report contained blanks that could be filled-in with specifics relating to the death, but “Pratt Hospital” was pre-printed, which suggests that it was well underway by this time. This is the earliest death record relating to Pratt Hospital that has been located to date by Ted Delaney, Assistant Director, Southern Memorial Association/Old City Cemetery Museums and Arboretum. 7 Houck, Peter W. A Prototype of a Confederate Hospital Center in Lynchburg, Virginia. Lynchburg,
Virginia: Warwick House Publishing. 1986. p. 37. Note: some historians have stated that Pratt Hospital was located on 12
th Street near the “Union Train Station.” This information is often paired with a
photograph (housed at Jones Memorial Library) of Federal soldiers in front of a frame building with railroad tracks in the foreground that is often identified as a scene from Camp Davis. However, no railroad tracks were laid in the vicinity of Camp Davis until the late 1880s, when the Lynchburg & Durham line was established, with a station on Twelfth Street between Kemper Street and Campbell Avenue. The statement regarding the “Union Train Station” is likely a misinterpretation of a recollection of Civil War physician Dr. John Jay Terrell, who wrote about hospitals in Lynchburg in the December 1931 issue of Confederate Veteran magazine. He stated that at “Platt [sic] hospital, near [today’s] 12
th Street Station,
was Dr. Murray, a Maryland man.” 8 Letter, 23 May 1864, from W.C. Nicholson, Pratt Hospital, Lynchburg, Virginia, Virginia Memory
Collection, Library of Virginia 9 Army and Navy Journal, 27 April 1867, p. 570; Henry, Guy Verner. Military Record of Civilian
Appointments in the United States Army, Volume 1. New York: Carleton. 1869. p. 436. 10
Diuguid Burial Records, Jones Memorial Library, Lynchburg, Virginia; Ashhurst, John. The International Encyclopedia of Surgery: a Systematic Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Surgery, Volume 4. New York: William Wood & Company. 1888. p. 271. 11
Richmond Whig, 28 January 1868. 12
Kerr-Ritchie, Jeffrey R. Freedpeople in the Tobacco South: Virginia, 1860-1900. University of North Carolina Press, 1999. p. 34. 13
Horst, 142 14
Capt. R.S. Lacey to John T. Davis, 3 February 1867, Lynchburg, Virginia. Letter sold on eBay 4 July 2011. Link to partial transcription: http://www.ebay.es/itm/CIVIL-WAR-VIRGINIA-FREEDMANS-BUREAU-1867-CAMP-DAVIS-/200618611567 15
Gray’s Map of Lynchburg, 1877
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Pierce Street Historic District City of Lynchburg, VA Name of Property County and State
Sections 9-end page 33
16
Deed Book DD, page 115; Deed Book DD, page 174, Circuit Court Clerk’s Office, City of Lynchburg 17
Deed Book EE, page 639; Deed Book JJ, page 332, Circuit Court Clerk’s Office, City of Lynchburg; 1878, 1879, 1881, 1885 Land Books, Circuit Court Clerk’s Office, City of Lynchburg 18
1880 United States Census, Population Schedule; 1880, 1885 Lynchburg City Directories; “The Southern Workman,” June 1900, Volume 9, page 377. 19
Delaney, Ted. “Pierce Street Personae.” Unpublished manuscript. Revised 2013. 20
1887 Lynchburg City Directory 21
1900 Lynchburg City Directory 22
Deed Book 69, page 520, Lynchburg Clerk of Court. 7/26/1904. J.E. Edmunds, Comr. To Warwick Spencer, Edward Spencer, and Warwick Spencer, Jr. Purchased at auction for $2,500. 23
Deed Book AA, page 222, Lynchburg Clerk of Court. 11/16/1872. Thomas J. North to Warwick Spencer (colored). Consideration: $400. House and lot North bought in 1867 adjoining Samuel A. Boyd and Charles Green. The deed erroneously states that the lot was on 20
th Street (using the old system of street
names in Lynchburg, Holliday Street might have been described as 19th Street [the 19
th Street from what
was 1st, or Commerce Street]). The 1881 Lynchburg City Directory lists both Warwick Spencer and
Charles Green residing in the vicinity of 18th & E Streets (what would become Holliday Street was shown
as “E” Street on Gray’s 1877 map, and extended from its present location (off of Campbell Avenue) westward to 13
th Street. The 1890 City Directory lists Charles Green living at 1716 Holliday Street and
Warwick Spencer at 1800 Holliday Street (the same address listed for Warwick in the 1900 Census). These houses were demolished prior to the construction of the Lynchburg Expressway in 1966. 24
Richmond Planet, 3 August 1895; “Religious Leaders Buried in the Old City Cemetery,” http://www.gravegarden.org/ministers.htm 25
Deed Book 85, page 366, Lynchburg Clerk of Court. 9/21/1909. Edward & Anne Spencer and Warwick & Carrie Spencer to Warwick Spencer. Lot purchased in 1904 was divided between the three parties. 26
Spencer, Chauncey E. Who is Chauncey Spencer? Detroit, Michigan: Broadside Press, 1975. p. 13. 27
1910 Lynchburg City Directory 28
Smith, W. Scott. “Fifth Street Historic District National Register of Historic Places Nomination.” Lynchburg, Virginia: HistoryTech, LLC. 2011. Page 22; 1910 United States Federal Census, Population Schedule; Delaney, Ted. “Significant People and Places in the Greater Pierce Street Neighborhood.” Unpublished manuscript. Revised 2013. 29
1940 Lynchburg City Directory 30
Deed Book FF, page 514, Lynchburg Clerk of Court 31
Lynchburg Chancery Case 1883-048, Library of Virginia 32
Lynchburg Deed Book XX, page 387; Deed Book XX, page 389; Deed Book 77, page 28; Deed Book 82, page 195; Butt, Israel Lafayette. History of African Methodism in Virginia: Or, Four Decades in the Old Dominion. Hampton, Virginia: Hampton Institute Press, 1908. pp. 72, 229. 33
Fiduciary Account Book 13, page 17, 481, Circuit Court Clerk’s Office, City of Lynchburg; 1907, 1951 Sanborn Insurance Company Maps; Cornerstone on church reads “erected 1877” on one side and “remodeled 1909” on the other. 34
Lynchburg Deed Book 184, page 80; Deed Book 184, page 81; Deed Book 189, page 82; 1930 Lynchburg City Directory 35
“History of Peaceful Baptist Church,” web site: http://peacefulbaptist.com/about-us/ , accessed 11 January 2014. 36
Chancery Order Book 14, page 333; Deed Book 104, page 578, Circuit Court Clerk’s Office, City of Lynchburg; Since the lot was then owned by a church, it was no longer taxable, and thus did not appear in the land tax records for several decades. 37
Chancery Order Book 15, page 244, 595; Circuit Court Clerk’s Office, City of Lynchburg 38
Aerial photographs by Underwood & Underwood, 1923, Jones Memorial Library. Viewable online at http://www.lynchburghistory.com/zoom/Aerials/1923_underwood_aerials_1/seadragonajax.html (upper left photo) 39
New York Age, 5 November 1921.
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Pierce Street Historic District City of Lynchburg, VA Name of Property County and State
Sections 9-end page 34
40
City of Lynchburg Geographic Information System; “History of Peaceful Baptist Church,” web site: http://peacefulbaptist.com/about-us/ , accessed 11 January 2014. 41
“What Hampton Graduates Are Doing.” Hampton, Virginia: Hampton Institute Press. 1904. Pp. 26-27; Delaney, Ted. “Significant People and Places in the Greater Pierce Street Neighborhood.” Unpublished manuscript. Revised 2013. 42
In November of 1896, the Dorchester Home Association acquired the house and lot at 1609 13th Street, although the years that the association actually occupied the house are not indicated by city directories. The 1902 Sanborn Insurance map labels both the Calloway Hall building (demolished) and 1609 13th Street as “Old Folks Homes,” while the 1907 map only uses this designation for Calloway Hall on Pierce Street. In October of 1903, the trustees of the Dorchester Home Association sold the 1609 13th Street property to Page Lynch. The deed noted that the proceeds from the sale would fund the already-operating industrial school at 904 Madison Street. Deed Book 69, page 1, Circuit Court Clerk’s Office, City of Lynchburg; Application for a Charter for the Dorchester Home Association, Lynchburg Chancery Cause 1899-028, Library of Virginia, Richmond. 43
“What Hampton graduates are doing in land-buying, in home-making, in business, in teaching, in agriculture, in establishing schools, in the trades, in church and missionary work, in the professions, 1868-1904.” Hampton, Virginia: Hampton Institute Press, 1904. Pp. 26-27. 44 “On Anne Spencer's table
There lies an unsharpened pencil — As though she has left unwritten Many things she knows to write.”
45 “Past National President Pauline Weeden Maloney.” http://www.linksinc.org/maloney.shtml
46 White, Jane B. “Pierce Street Renaissance Historic District, Lynchburg, Virginia” (brochure). Lynchburg,
Virginia: Anne Spencer House and Garden Museum. 2012; “Clarence W. Seay: Man of Principles,” http://legacymuseum.org/newsletters/clarence-seay-man-of-principles 47
“Chauncey Spencer Fact Sheet,” Hill Air Force Base, http://www.hill.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=5942 48
1877 Gray’s Map of Lynchburg; 1891 Baist Map of Lynchburg; 1895, 1902, 1907, 1951 Sanborn Fire Insurance Company Maps.
Pie
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P.O. Box 75 Lynchburg, VA 24505
www.HistoryTech.com
1301 Pierc
e
1309 Pierc
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1311 Pierc
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1313 Pierc
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1317 Pierc
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1321 Pierc
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1300 Pierc
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1306 Pierc
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1310 Pierc
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1312 Pierc
e
1314 Pierc
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1316 Pierc
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1322 Pierc
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1518 14th
1408 Pierc
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1410 Pierc
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1422 Pierc
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1423 Pierc
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1316 Buchanan
1308 Buchanan 1306 B
uchanan
1322 Buchanan
1301 Fillm
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1307 Fillm
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1309 Fillm
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1. View: Anne Spencer House, 1313 Pierce Street 2. View: 1300 Block Pierce Street 3. View: 1300 Block Pierce Street 4. View: 1300 Block Pierce Street 5. View: William J. Calloway Store, 1301 Pierce Street 6. View: Chauncey Spencer House, 1306 Pierce Street 7. View: Peaceful Baptist Church, 1309 Pierce Street 8. View: Marshall Chapel A.M.E. Church, 1307 Fillmore Street 9. View: 1400 Block Pierce Street 10. View: 1400 Block Pierce Street
Photograph Locations Key LEGEND
Contributing Building
Contributing Site
Non-Contributing Building
District Boundary
Street Edge
Sidewalk